Parent involvement in schools has long been regarded as a contributing factor of academic success.  Although a great deal of research has been conducted regarding parental involvement, there has been a lack of research that focuses on Latino perceptions on the topic.  

Organizations such as the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI) have delved in to examine Latino parent involvement in schools to study various topics related to parental involvement.  Some topics that researchers have examined include:

• Educators’ and schools’ expectations of parent involvement.
• Latino students’ views on the role of parents and parental involvement in their education and learning.
• Latino parents’ views on their participation and roll in the education of their children.
• Programmatic initiatives that address Latino parent involvement in education.

Latino parents believe that parental involvement in school involves an array of activities including educational enrichment, homework, and academic performance.  Some examples of academic involvement in school include attending parent-teacher meetings, listening to their children reading, asking about homework and what is going on in the classroom, and expressing the importance of high academic performance, among other things.

Research demonstrates that policymakers,  schools, and educators need to create an environment that encourages Latino parent involvement.  For example, school leaders can send out all written communications in English and in the language spoken by the parents.  Educators and teachers can assign specific assignments in which students are required to read bilingual books aloud to their parents, so that both the student and the parent can gain stronger literacy and language skills.  

Organizations such as the The Latino Family Literacy Project can provide a cultural competency training for policymakers, school principals, educators, and school staff.  For more information on how to increase the parental involvement in schools using a research-based model, school officials and teachers can sign up for webinars or an in-person conference covering this topic and more.